The official blog for writer Tom Graves, the Memphis-based author of Crossroads - The Life and Afterlife of Blues Legend Robert Johnson and the novel Pullers. Contains musings, reviews, articles, interviews, and even a few odd recipes. To borrow from Norman Mailer, contained herein are basically advertisements for myself.

Monday, March 16, 2009

My 100 Favorite Films

I had to get in on the action too. There are lists out there everywhere, some good, some great, some awful. The first thing you will notice about my list is that I cheated like crazy here, counting all of Stanley Kubrick's films, for instance, as one entry. Why? To avoid hair-splitting and to create space for a few more oddities.

Do I necessarily consider each and every one of these films on my list the greatest cinematic achievements of all time? Nope. I'm sure one or two of these (or 50) will have some of you scratching your heads. I'm tired of those American Film Institute lists with the same old formula fluff, although I'm a hypocrite myself and include a few tried-and-trues like Red River. (What I should have put is Hatari--at least the bush scenes. That would have puzzled some.) Most of these I would want to be my desert island collection, some are just downright fascinating artistically for quirky reasons (Roman Polanski's Macbeth, for example), and some should be studied by any serious student of the cinema.

Ultimately, Top 100 lists probably say more about the compiler than anything. I've grown increasingly fond of tough, gritty, realistically violent movies. I'm sure that says something about me, but I have no idea what. I still don't own a firearm and have yet to get in a bar fight.

****Note: I'd also like to hear from people on those movies (and filmmakers) you love to hate.

-George Washington (a little known gem) -Spellbound (documentary on National Spelling Bee) -Fog of War (fascinating film on Robert McNamara) -the remake of Dawn of the Dead -28 Days -The Cooler -Croupier -The Triplets of Belleville (especially the black and white intro) -Persepolis-American Splendor-Crumb-Capote-Shattered Glass (about New Republic writer/faker Stephen Glass-- has some terrific low key performances and a story surprisingly gripping) -Sexy Beast (Ben Kingsley delivers a better performance here than Gandhi) -Lock, Stock, and Three Smoking Barrels-Hard Eight

Jonathan Rosenbaum's Alternative 100 Best American Films

Rosenbaum is about as quirky a critic as has been ever taken seriously. I violently disagree with many of his choice picks and think some of them strange enough to qualify him for a straitjacket. But such is the bloodsport of film criticism. There are films he lists that not only have I never seen, but that I have never heard of. That alone is enough to make me want to take up arms against him. That said, I find his quirks fascinating in a rainy day when I am bored sort of way. His list certainly gets the blood flowing faster than the Novocaine list put out by the AFI (American Film Institue), which follows Rosenbaum's list.

ROSENBAUM'S ALTERNATE 100

Ace in the Hole/The Big Carnival (1951) An Affair to Remember (1957) Anatomy of a Murder (1959) Avanti! (1972) The Barefoot Contessa (1954) The Big Sky (1952) Bigger Than Life (1956) The Black Cat (1934) Bride of Frankenstein (1935) Broken Blossoms (1919) Cat People (1942) Christmas in July (1940) Confessions of an Opium Eater (1962) The Crowd (1928) Dead Man (1995) ***Oh please! Arty tripe by Jim Jarmusch who at least gave us the interesting Mystery Train. Do the Right Thing (1989) ***My belief is that 50 years from now this silly agitprop from Spike Lee will get unintended laughs in the same way people now watch Reefer Madness. The Docks of New York (1928) Eadweard Muybridge, Zoopraxographer (1974) 11 x 14 (1976) Eraserhead (1978) ***Time for the straitjacket!

Foolish Wives (1922) Force of Evil (1948) Freaks (1932) The General (1927) Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) Gilda (1946) The Great Garrick (1937) Greed (1925) Hallelujah, I'm a Bum (1933) The Heartbreak Kid (1972) Housekeeping (1987) The Hustler (1961) Intolerance (1916) Johnny Guitar (1954) Judge Priest (1934) Killer of Sheep (1978) ***Saw it finally. Boring film school artiness disguised as truth-telling.The Killing (1956) The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976) ***No, not John Cassavetes. I'd rather watch a film by that great Japanese auteur Yoko Ono. Kiss Me Deadly (1955) The Ladies' Man (1961) The Lady From Shanghai (1948) Last Chants for a Slow Dance (1977) Laughter (1930) Letter From an Unknown Woman (1948) Lonesome (1929) Love Me Tonight (1932) Love Streams (1984) The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) ***I have never understood the following this inferior Welles film has. Nowhere close to the artistry of Citizen Kane. Make Way for Tomorrow (1937) The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) Man's Castle (1933) McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) Mikey and Nicky (1976) Monsieur Verdoux (1947) My Son John (1952) The Naked Spur (1953) Nanook of the North (1922) The Night of the Hunter (1955) The Nutty Professor (1963) The Palm Beach Story (1942) Panic in the Streets (1950) Park Row (1952) The Phenix City Story (1955) Point Blank (1967) Real Life (1979) Reminiscences of a Journey to Lithuania (1971) Rio Bravo (1959) Scarface (1932) The Scarlet Empress (1934) Scarlet Street (1945) Scenes From Under Childhood (1970) The Scenic Route (1978) The Seventh Victim (1943) Shadows (1960) Sherlock Jr. (1924) The Shooting (1967) The Shop Around the Corner (1940) The Sound of Fury/Try and Get Me! (1950) Stars in My Crown (1950) The Steel Helmet (1951) Stranger Than Paradise (1984) The Strawberry Blonde (1941) Sunrise (1927) Sylvia Scarlett (1935) The Tarnished Angels (1958) That's Entertainment! III (1994) This Land Is Mine (1943) Thunderbolt (1929) To Sleep With Anger (1990) Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son (1969) Track of the Cat (1954) Trouble in Paradise (1932) Vinyl (1965) Wanda (1971) While the City Sleeps (1956) Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957) Woodstock (1970) The Wrong Man (1957) Zabriskie Point (1970) ***No, this guy needs two straitjackets.

Safe -- boring does not begin to describe the paralysis of this one-dimsensional portrait of a woman who finds her world literally toxic. Todd Haynes is not a bad director, and Velvet Goldmine is even worth watching. But this one inexplicably has a following.

Films and directors I think are waaay overrated

Early Spike Lee (however, I am very fond of Clockers, Malcolm X, The Inside Man, and Miracle at St. Elena (sp.?)) Anything by John Cassavetes (no exceptions) Solaris ­-- the original and the remake Pasolini ­-- anything, especially Teorema most of Werner Herzog with the exception of the documentaries by and about him all of Fassbinder, particularly the Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant Tree of Wooden Clogs Philadelphia Oliver Stone (God! What a hack!) Brian De Palma­ with a few exceptions such as Carrie and Blowout Gus Van Sant Atom Egoyan Luchino Visconti Lars von Trier Peter Greenaway In the Heat of the Night and Rod Steiger Meryl Streep The Deer Hunter El Topo much of Woody Allen Godfather III La Dolce Vita Fellini’s last films The new Star Wars flicks...boring! The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (snore!) most films about the Civil War